OPINION | REVIEW: ‘The Last Duel’ tells its story from multiple points of view

Duel perspectives

In Ridley Scott’s medieval #MeToo drama “The Last Duel,” Matt Damon is knight Jean de Carrouges, determined to take lethal revenge on a rival for his wife’s affection.
In Ridley Scott’s medieval #MeToo drama “The Last Duel,” Matt Damon is knight Jean de Carrouges, determined to take lethal revenge on a rival for his wife’s affection.

If the setup for Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel" is simple, the final product is far more rewarding than its trailers imply.

It is loosely based on the last legally sanctioned duel in French history and does involve a knight who challenges a squire to the death because he believes the squire has raped his wife. Nonetheless, the full movie includes shifts in perspective, insights into 14th-century Europe and sexual politics to go with that expectedly tense and bloody final showdown.

While Scott is an old hand with battle scenes (his first feature film was "The Duelists"), the screenplay by Nicole Holofcener ("Enough Said"), Matt Damon and Ben Affleck do more than simply tease the audience before getting to the promised jousting match.

The three explore why two friends wind up finding no way to resolve their difference except through knocking each other off horses and worse. Sir Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and the squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) start the tale as allies because both have lived through combat together. As "The Last Duel" progresses, it becomes obvious that the incident that leads to their trial by combat may have been a last straw.

"The Last Duel" looks at their relationship from both Jean and Jacques' point of view. If it's not exactly novel to tell a story from multiple perspectives, at least Scott and the screenwriters know what worked in "Citizen Kane" and "Rashomon." When Jean is telling the tale, he's a man of simple virtue who leaps into battle when others cower, while Jacques is a back-stabbing toady for the local lord Pierre d'Alencon (Affleck), who in turn is only in power because he's the cousin of King Charles VI (Alex Lawther).

About the only thing that remains consistent in each of their accounts is that Pierre's chief contribution to the world is preventing the world's alcohol supply from getting too abundant and keeping prostitutes steadily employed. (If Affleck or Damon ever feel their roles are getting lousy, they should definitely keep writing ones for themselves.)

Jacques' version is not that different from Jean's, although he takes credit for juicy bon mots that we heard in the knight's account. According to the squire, Jean is indeed a courageous warrior, but his acts of bravery often undermine the campaigns he's fighting. Despite having a proud family name and inheritance, Jean has a more fearsome enemy than any Scotsman or Brit he fights: math.

Jean loses out on key acquisitions because he can't pay for them and has a limited understanding of how ­real estate works in the 1300s. At least Jean's illiteracy is a better excuse than Pierre's drinking.

Unlike the knight, Jacques can read and write in many languages and finds himself a better lover for Jean's wife, Marguerite (Jodi Comer, "Killing Eve," "Free Guy"). He has little to offer her but erudition and ego, but as far as he's concerned, she should be happy that she is an obsession whenever the squire isn't patronizing one of Pierre's hookers.

What gives "The Last Duel" enough heart and brain to go with the eventual bloodletting is Marguerite's account. It's the longest of the three, but it moves the most quickly because it's the most engaging. While both men declare their affection toward her, neither seems like much of a catch. Jean is barely younger than her father and is merely, um, friendly in bed. In some ways, if Jean loses, it could at least bring a quicker end to her unhappy situation.

Everyone is wondering why she has taken so long to produce Jean's heir. Fourteenth century medicine, justice and theology are ironically clueless about how lady parts work. You'd think that men so eager to set up legacies would go to the trouble of learning. Marguerite even gets hounded by Jean's mother (a delightfully caustic Harriet Walter). Comer makes Marguerite consistently sympathetic, and frankly she's more involving than either of the men fighting.

Holofcener, Damon and Affleck keep the differences between the accounts subtle. Jacques seems like a bigger oaf in his own recollections of his encounter with Marguerite because what he imagines to be romantic comes off as thuggish and egotistical. It's not that hard to believe she wouldn't find it consenting.

Because the first two hours have nuanced characters and situations, the 14th-century version of UFC that follows has more impact. Scott manages to make the title conflict both suspenseful and suitably gory (lances and swords do hurt, folks). It is hard to get worked up over guys battling in metal suits of armor if you don't know what they were like before they put on their armor.

More News

‘The Last Duel’

86 Cast: Matt Damon, Jodi Comer, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck, Harriet Walter, Alex Lawther

Director: Ridley Scott

Rating: R, for strong violence including sexual assault, sexual content, some graphic nudity, and language

Running time: 2 hours, 32 minutes

Playing theatrically

Times up: Lady Marguerite (Jodie Comer) is the woman at the center of the story of the last legally sanctioned duel in French history, between her husband, the knight Jean de Carrouges, and squire Jacques Le Gris who was accused of raping Marguerite in “The Last Duel.”
Times up: Lady Marguerite (Jodie Comer) is the woman at the center of the story of the last legally sanctioned duel in French history, between her husband, the knight Jean de Carrouges, and squire Jacques Le Gris who was accused of raping Marguerite in “The Last Duel.”

Upcoming Events